I love me some three-cylinder engine for the street. Four-cylinder engines are very top-end biased, leaving the rider wanting in the low-mid range so useful for so much of civilian riding, and two-cylinder engines are usually low-end biased leaving the rider without the fun of wringing it out coming out of a turn onto a longer straight.

Life is about trade-offs and the three-cylinder engine seems to make all the right ones.

<Disclaimer> The following includes some links to and regurgitation of sites that I read every day, namely Hell for Leather and Asphalt and Rubber. Keep up the good work guys. </ Disclaimer>

Something new…

That being said, I am very excited that Yamaha is flirting with entering the market with a three-cylinder engine. If Yamaha were just releasing a three-cylinder engine it would probably never be able to match the character of the Triumph. Yamaha has a trick up its sleeve to remedy that perceived deficiency. That trick is currently employed on their flagship R1. You guessed it, the Yamaha triple engine concept has a cross-plane crankshaft. That should be sufficient to make it unique the world of middleweight street bikes.

Something old updated…

I was also excited to see the new images for the 2013 Triumph Street Triple R which is one of the select bikes competing for my attention and future motorcycle purchasing dollar. There seem to be two main updates from the 2012 version, namely a) reduced weight and b) a new sub-frame. I am sure there are other updates but these two interest me the most.

Weight is one of my biggest pet-peeves. This, I guess, applies to both my body and to my motorcycle, but more the latter. This is one of the main reasons why the Triumph Bonneville or Thruxton are not on my shortlist and also why I think the companies who release 600+ pound adventure tourers obviously don’t venture anywhere off the interstate. Reduced weight on this already light and nimble machine should make it just that, more nimble and of course more fun.

The new sub-frame has changed the angle of the seat which was one of my few gripes with the current Street Triple R. The current is tilted far too forward which makes my butt slide toward the tank, but even worse it puts my pelvis and lower back in a very uncomfortable arrangement. It’s subtle but the animated image below, courtesy of my excellent Photoshop skills, seems to show a more level seat, which makes my butt and lower back smile.

With more companies in the ranks of three-cylinder providers, namely Triumph, who had a triple as far back as the late sixties, MV Agusta, who will need a few more years of refinement to warrant the price premium, and now potentially Yamaha, we should see increased competition in this space and therefore better performance, reliability, and usability. All of which are good things when talking about a fun street bike that is to be ridden everyday.

Here’s to the day of the triple that will hopefully come soon!

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This post wins the hyphen count by far. Thanks, in advance, for understanding my hyphen complex.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.